They have a lot of questions, but members of the planning committee voted Monday to direct staff to prepare a business case on a $9.5 million request for a mix of grants, tax relief and loan to redevelop the former Northern Breweries building.
The approval means the proposal will become part of budget deliberations and will be voted on as a line item as city council gets further into the 2018 budget process.
Greg Oldenburg has been working the last few years to turn the derelict Northern Breweries building into the Brewer Lofts, a 50-unit condominium development. He's seeking the funding through existing city programs, but his requests significantly exceed the budget for the programs, so require special approval.
The $23-million project, which he aims to complete by 2019, has 85 per cent of the financing in place from outside firms. But that financing is contingent on him receiving an interest-free loan of $4.5 million under the city's brownfield strategy, a program capped at an annual limit of $250,000.
See full details of what Oldenburg has in mind here. But Oldenburg says the $4.5 million is a contingency fund required by lenders to ensure he has the money to complete the project in case there are cost overruns.
The money would only become available once construction begins, and he says it would be repaid within months of completion using the mortgages paid by those who have bought the condos.
On Monday, Ward 12 Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altmann said she had no issue allowing the plan to become a business case. But she wanted clarity on exactly what the risk to the city would be if they agreed to the loan.
“How exposed would the city be with the loan of the $4.5 million?” Landry-Altmann asked. “I would like it explained clearly so that residents out there reading this can understand it."
